2018 AUA EARLY-CAREER INVESTIGATORS WORKSHOP ABSTRACT/PROJECT SUMMARY The 2018 American Urological Association (AUA) Early-Career Investigators Workshop will be held October 11-13, 2018 at the headquarters of the American Urological Association (AUA) in Linthicum, Maryland, near the Thurgood Marshall-BWI Airport. The meeting is intended to provide intense and individualized instruction for a small group of 35 MD and PhD early-career investigators and late-stage trainees on how to prepare innovative and competitive research grant applications, primarily to the NIH. The program is specifically designed to allow one-on-one and small-group instruction that will be provided by NIH-funded senior scientists and other advisors. This advising will be customized to best fit the needs of the individual applicant and the range of proposed research applications that will be presented at the meeting. This workshop will provide a catalyst to increase the quality of urologic research grant proposals submitted to the NIH, with particular emphasis on those submitted to the NIDDK and NICHD. Based on previous workshops. More than half of the attendees intend to conduct their research in areas associated with non-cancer urology research. The workshop continues the long-range strategic vision of the AUA to provide a series of workshops that will be devoted to grant writing, career development, and developing an integrated community of urologic investigators to support interdisciplinary research. The Principal Investigator (PI), Carolyn Best, PhD, is the Director of Research for the AUA. The Steering Committee consists of leaders in urologic research, some of whom are PIs on NIDDK Multidisciplinary K12 Urologic Research (KURe) Career Development Programs: Aria Olumi, MD (Chair); Rosalyn Adam, PhD; Cindy Amundsen, MD; Linda Baker, MD; Wade Bushman, MD, PhD; Peter Clark, MD, Toby Chai, MD; Stephen Freedland, MD; Michael Hsieh, MD, PhD; Dolores Lamb, PhD; John Wei, MD, MS; and Erika Wolff, PhD. All committee members and advising faculty possess exemplary records in extramural research funding and training of residents and pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows. The Early-Career Investigators Workshop will take place over 2 days. A key session of the meeting will take place on day two when the faculty advisors will meet individually with each of the participants and conduct ongoing critical evaluations of their grant applications. The team of advisors that will meet with each attendee will be customized based on the scientific area, specific aims and methodologies of the proposed research. The program will include keynote addresses, presentations on many of the key facets of grant writing, including, ?Identifying & Composing the Pieces of a Successful Research Grant Proposal,? ?Selling Yourself Through Your NIH Biosketch,? and ?Establishing Effective Career Development Goals and Translation to Your Training Plan.? Talks on negotiations, collaborations, project management, mentoring and career development from successful senior and mid-career investigators will also be presented. One of the most valued sessions from past workshop has been the Mock Review Panel session, in which senior advisors with substantial experience on NIH study sections will conduct mock critiques on previously NIH-reviewed, and subsequently de-identified, grant applications.